Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 - Softcover

Scotti, R. A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316832111 ISBN 13: 9780316832113

Publisher: Back Bay Books, 2004

Synopsis

A "gripping...thrilling tale" (New York Times) of the extraordinary human drama that unfolded during the Hurricane of 1938.
The massive destruction wreaked by the Hurricane of 1938 dwarfed that of the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Earthquake, and the Mississippi floods of 1927, making the storm the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Now, R.A. Scotti tells the story.
This spellbinding narrative, focusing on the extraordinary human drama that unfolded as an unlikely alignment of meteorological conditions conspired to bring a deadly tropical cyclone to the Northeast in the summer of 1938, summons back the most ferocious storm ever to hit the East Coast. It was a natural disaster so intense that it indelibly marked not only the lives of families across seven states but also the land itself, requiring the entire coastline map of New England to be redrawn

About this title

About the Author:

R. A. Scotti, a former journalist at the Providence Journal, is the author of numerous thrillers and novels of international espionage. She lives in New York City. This is her second work of nonfiction.

From Publishers Weekly:

Former journalist and mystery novelist Scotti successfully applies her skills in both genres to this detailed retelling of the 1938 hurricane that ripped across seven Northeastern states and killed 682 people, "the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history-worse than the San Francisco earthquake, the Chicago fire, or any Mississippi flood." Although the enormity of the destruction has been written about before, Scotti focuses on "a few experiences that seem representative of many more" through interviews with hurricane survivors, their families and friends, as well as previously published recollections by survivors, including the late Katharine Hepburn. Scotti's detailed look at the general extent of the hurricane's destruction adds poignancy to individual stories, such as those of Joseph Matoes, who sees his children swept away from their school bus as they are battered by huge waves; Lillian Tetlow and Jack Kinney, two sweethearts who survive a storm that destroys Napatree, R.I., and who later marry; and Charles Pierce, a "green and unsure" junior forecaster for a woefully underprepared U.S. Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) who stands against his experienced superiors as the only forecaster to recognize the danger of the hurricane. Scotti also skillfully presents the details of a hurricane, although she reminds us that "after decades of study and with all the technological tools of the trade... we still cannot predict a hurricane more than twenty-four hours in advance."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0316832111
• ISBN 13: 9780316832113
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304